Apparatus and method for making trusses

ABSTRACT

Fabricating wood trusses with toothed connector plate joints upon a two-truss position support plate which is endwise slidably supported upon a roller table having a roller press arranged transversely of the middle of the table. Pre-cut chords and web members are arranged at one side of the table and are loaded upon one plate position, with connector plates loosely positioned with their teeth down over the abutted joints and then the support plate is slid through the roller press to the other side of the table for press embedding the connector plate teeth into the members. Then the truss is turned upside down upon the second plate position and connector plates are arranged over the opposite faces of the joint, while simultaneously another truss is assembled upon the first plate position. Then the plate is returned through the roller press wherein the completed truss is then removed from the second position and the cycle is repeated. Thus, all loading of truss chord and web members are on one side of the table and on opposite sides of the press and all unloading of completed trusses is at opposite sides of the table and at opposite sides of the press.

United States Patent [191 Schmitt Jan. 15, 1974 1 APPARATUS AND METHODFOR MAKING TRUSSES [75] Inventor: Jaclt N. Schmitt, Birmingham, Mich.

[73] Assignee: Truswal Systems, Inc., Troy, Mich.

[22] Filed: July 26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 275,147

[52] US. Cl 100/41, 100/173, 100/176,

100/D1G. 13, 227/152 [51] Int. Cl B30!) 3/04 [58] Field of Search227/152; 144/288 C;

269/321 F; 29/200 J; l00/DIG. 13, 35, 41, 144,155 R, 173,176

Templin IOU/DIG. 13

Attorney- Cul lenisettle, S lo man & Cantor [57] ABSTRACT Fabricatingwood trusses with toothed connector plate joints upon a two-trussposition support plate which is endwise slidably supported upon a rollertable having a roller press arranged transversely of the middle of thetable. Pre-cut chords and web members are arranged at one side of thetable and are loaded upon one plate position, with connector platesloosely posis tioned with their teeth down over the abutted joints andthen the support plate is slid through the roller press to the otherside of the table for press embedding the connector plate teeth into themembers. Then the truss is turned upside down upon the second plateposition and connector plates are arranged over the opposite faces ofthe joint, while simultaneously another truss is assembled upon thefirst plate position. Then the plate is returned through the rollerpress wherein the completed truss is then removed from the secondposition and the cycle is repeated. Thus, all loading of truss chord andweb members are on one side of the table and on opposite sides of thepress and all unloading of completed trusses is at opposite sides of thetable and at opposite sides of the press.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 7 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAKING TRUSSESBACKGROUND OF INVENTION The apparatus and method herein relates to thefabrication of wood trusses, of various shapes and sizes, used astrusses or joists in building construction, such as for roof, deck andfloor supports. Such trusses are made of elongated wood chord memberswhich are interconnected by wood web members, with the chords and webmembers fastened together at abutted joints by means of toothed metalconnector or fastener plates applied to the opposite faces of the jointswith their teeth embedded in the wood. An example of this type of trussconstruction is disclosed in my 0.8. Pat. No. 3,651,612 issued Mar. 28,1972. An example of suitable connector or fastener plates is disclosedin my US. Pat. No. 3,633,454 granted Jan. I1, 1972.

The fabrication of such type trusses whether of the parallel chord joisttype or the intersecting chord, V- shape roof truss type, requiresconsiderable hand labor and considerable time in assembly andparticularly in the embedding of the connector plates into the woodmembers. Thus, the invention herein relates to an improved system andapparatus for more rapidly and efficiently fabricating such trusses andparticularly securing the connector plates thereto, which system employsrelatively simple apparatus which reduces labor requirementsconsiderably.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The invention herein comtemplates forming woodtrusses upon a large metal support plate on which precut truss membersare properly aligned and including loosely positioning connector platesover the joints upon one face of the assembled truss members, and thensliding the plate endwise upon a low friction support table through aroller type press to embed the connector plates and thereafter turningthe partially assembled truss upside down, positioning connector platesupon the opposite joint faces and running the plate with the truss backthrough the truss for embedding plates into the opposite joint faces.

The support plate is of double truss width and at least as long as asingle truss. Thus, four table positions are provided upon theapparatus, namely, (1) a first loading position where the trussmembersare assembled and clamped uponone side of the support plate and theconnector plates are located upon the joints, (2) a second position atthe opposite end of the table beyond the press from whichsecond positionthe truss may be removed and turned upside down into (3) a thirdposition on the opposite side of the support plate and table so thatwhile plates are positioned 'manually over the opposite faces of thejoints, another truss may be assembled upon the support plate at thesecond position, duplicating the operation of the first position, andthereafter, the plate may be run back through the press to the oppositeend of the table where the now completed truss is removed from (4) thefourth position and the partially assembled truss at the first positionis inverted and placed into the fourth position where the cycle isrepeated.

With the foregoing system, several workmen located at one long side ofthe table are able to load truss members onto the support plate ateither position one or position two and workmen located at the oppositeside of the table can unload completed trusses as well as positionconnector plates over the inverted trusses to overlap the opposite facesof the joints. As can be seen, one long side of the table has twoloading positions and the other long side has two unloading positions,with a press located between the opposite ends of the table forembedding the plates between the various positions.

The foregoing system and apparatus simplifies the handling of the rawmaterials, namely, the pre-cut chord and web members and also simplifiesthe removal of completed trusses, considerably reduces labor andhandling in the fabrication and thus speeds up the fabrication oftrusses as well as substantially reducing the costs thereof.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent upon readingthe following disclosure, of which the attached drawings form a part.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatusherein, with the support plate located at one end of the table and trussmembers loaded upon one side of the support plate.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the system and the various workstations thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view taken generally in thedirection of arrows 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of one truss joint.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus is formed of anelongated, relatively narrow table 11 formed of two end to end arrangedtable halves 12 and 13 respectively. Preferably the tables are formed ofa large number of rollers 14 arranged side by side and rollingly securedto and supported by a suitable frame 15 in turn supported above groundlevel by legs 16.

A roller press 17 is located at roughly the middle of the table 11 andconsists of an upper roller 18 and a lower roller 19, each arrangedtransversely of the table, with one roller spaced apart a short distanceabove the other. The press rollers are supported by suitable supportlegs 20 which permit the rollers to rotate. Prefera' bly, at least oneof the rollers is motor driven by a suitable motor and connection 21(shown schematically in FIGS. 1 and 2).

An elongated, flat support plate 24, preferably formed of a thin butrelatively rigid sheet of metal is supported upon one of the halves ofthe table. The support plate is at least as long as the truss to befabricated and double the width of such trusses. The support plate isdivided into two elongated parts, namely, a load side or part 25 and anopposite unload :side or part 26. Such plate may be made of a singlesheet of suitable length and width or alternatively where the size istoo great, it can be made of two long, parallel sheets which arecoplanar and interconnected at their centers in some suitable way toform a single sheet unit of double truss width.

In operation, as shown schematically in FIG. 2, the support plate 24 isarranged upon one of the two table halves. The table itself is dividedinto four stations, namely, load stations one and two located along oneedge and the opposite ends of the table, and unload stations three andfour similarly located on opposite ends of the table relative to thepress.

Two piles 30 and 30a of pre-cut chord members 32 and web members 33 arearranged at the load stations, that is, at the opposite sides of thepress alongside of the one edge of the table.

Workmen operating the apparatus lift from the pile 30 at station one therequired number of chord members and web members and place them upon theload side 25 of the support plate 24. Locator means formed upon theplate guide the location of the members. Thus, the plate is providedwith a central guide bar 34 extending its length to function as alocator for one long chord member. A second guide bar 35 is looselypositioned upon the upper surface of the plate at a distance from thecentral guide bar 34. Suitable mechanical clamps 36, of any conventionalconstruction, are arranged to clamp the movable guide bar 35 towards thefixed central guide bar 34. Thus, a first chord may be positionedagainst the fixed guide bar 34, a second chord member against themovable guide bar 35, with the web members 33 located between to formabutting types ofjoints. With this arrangement, the wood members whichare typically formed of conventional socalled 2 4s strips of lumber maybe arranged with their wider cross-sectional edge upwards as illustratedin FIG. 3.

Once the chord members 32 and the web members 33 are properly abutted,the clamps 36 may be applied to shove the movable guide bar 35 towardsthe fixed guide bar 34 and thereby tightly hold the parts in place.Other suitable clamping means may be used. Also, the guide bar may bechanged in shape or angularity, that is, for example, being V-shaped toaccommodate a V- shaped truss as opposed to a parallel chord trussdescribed above.

At this point, the workmen lay over each of the abutted joints a metaltruss connector plate 39 which comprises a flat sheet of metal havingstruck-out teeth 40. The teeth rest upon the upper surfaces of the woodmembers.

Next, the entire plate 24 is slid endwise to the opposite half of thetable so as to pass between the upper and lower press rollers 18 and 19which are spaced apart a sufficient distance to accommodate and squeezetogether the plate 24, the truss members and the connector plates. Asthe plate and truss passes between the two rollers, the connector platesare squeezed downwardly so that their teeth 40 embed in their woodmembers.

At this point, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2, the plate is nowlocated at stations 2 and 3. The workmen unclamp the truss and turn itupside down so as to flip it from station 2 into station 3 where it maybe reclamped. At that point, workmen located at station 3 positionconnector or fastener plates over each of the now exposed joint faceswhile simultaneously workmen in station 2 load a new truss into positionby taking chord members 32 and web members 33 from pile 30a. Likewise,they position connector plates over the joints. The same workmen fromstation I normally walk to station 2 to perform the loading operation.

After the truss is loaded at station 2 and the exposed joint faces arecovered with plates at station 3, the plate 24 is again rolled endwiseback through the press so that it now is aligned with stations 1 and 4.The workmen now return from stations 2 and 3 to stations 1 and 4.

At that point, the workmen at station 4 remove the completed truss 38and put it in a pile in back of them, while simultaneously the workmenin station 1 release the truss at that position, and flip it over intostation 4. Again a new truss is assembled at station 1, plates areapplied to the exposed joint faces at station 4, and the support plateis again rolled back through the press to repeat the cycle.

Since a typical joist type truss, as illustrated in the drawings may runin the order of 16 to 32 feet in length, the table is of considerablelength as is the plate 24. A single crew of three workmen at station 1is sufficient to handle the loading at both station 1 and station 2while a crew of two workmen at station 3 can handle both stations 3 and4. Of course, a separate crew may be used at each of the stations.However, it has been found that using only one crew at each of the twosides of the tables, each crew to handle two stations, walking back andforth between them, actually expedites the work, avoiding boredom andhelping control and improve quality as the workmen remain more alert dueto the movement back and forth.

Having fully described an operative embodiment of this invention, I nowclaim:

1. An apparatus for making large wood trusses and the like devicesformed of elongated spaced apart coplanar chords interconnected by webmembers whose ends are abutted against and joined to the respectivechord members by metal fastener plates positioned over the joints andhaving struck-out teeth embedded into the portions of the chord and webmembers at said joints comprising:

an elongated, relatively narrow, horizontal table divided in halftransversely and longitudinally to form four roughly equal table quarterportions, with each of said portions being longer and wider than thetrusses to be made on said apparatus;

a press roller mounted transversely of the table at approximately themiddle thereof, the roller extending substantially the full width of andspaced a short distance above the table;

a large, flat support plate divided into two plate portions, looselysupported upon and substantially covering the adjacent table quarterportions on one side of the press roller, with said plate being endwiseslidable upon the table beneath the press roller from one end half ofthe table to the other;

locator means formed on the plate for locating precut chord and webmembers in assembled relationship upon each of the two plate portions;

and the space between the roller and the table being approximately equalto the thickness of the support plate and members located upon thesupport plate;

whereby chord and web members may be manually assembled in abuttingrelationship upon one plate portion and fastener plates may be looselypositioned over each of the joints, with their teeth down and restedupon the members, and thereafter, the entire support plate may be slidendwise beneath the press roller to the opposite end of the table sothat the fastener plates are pressed downwardly and their teeth areembedded into the respective members by the pressure of the roller, andthe truss may then be turned upside down and positioned upon theopposite support plate portion, and fastener plates arranged teeth downupon the joints and the support plate slid back under the roller to itsoriginal position for embedding fastener plates into the members at theopposite faces of said joints, and thereafter, the completed truss maybe removed from said other plate portion.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, and said table being formed ofnumerous closely spaced rollers extending transversely of the table forroller supporting the plate for endwise sliding from one end of thetable to the other.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, and including a lower pressroller mounted beneath and in parallel alignment with the firstmentioned press roller, with the uppermost edge of the lower pressroller being substantially in the uppermost plane defining the topsurface of the table, whereby the plate, chord and web members andfastener plates are squeezed together as a unit between the two pressrollers for embedding the teeth of the fastener plate into said members.

4. An apparatus for making large wood truss-like devices formed ofelongated spaced apart, coplanar wood chord members interconnected byweb members, with the adjacent ends of said members being abutted andfastenedtog'ether by metal fastener plates laid over the abutted jointsin face to face relationship therewith and secured to the members byfastener plate struck-out teeth which are embedded into the adjacentmember portions, comprising:

an elongated, relatively narrow table whose horizontal top surface isprovided with transversely axised rollers;

a press roller extending transversely of the table between the endsthereof, the press roller being mounted above and with its lowermostedge spaced a short distance above the plane of the table top;

an elongated, flat, horizontally arranged, metal support plate looselysupported upon the table rollers for endwise sliding movement along thelength of the table and between the table and the press roller, and saidsupport plate being at least as long as a truss device to be made on theapparatus;

locator means formed on the upper surface of the support plate forlocating pre-cut chord and web members in acutting truss-formingassembled relationship upon said upper surface;

wherein a fastener plate may be laid over each joint, teeth down, andthe metal support plate with the members and fastener plates may bethereafter moved endwise beneath the roller press to the opposite endsof the table so that the roller press squeezes the fastener plates downagainst the members, in turn supported by the support plate, forembedding the fastener plates teeth into their adjacent member portionsand the truss may then be turned upside down upon the metal supportplate and fastener plates positioned over the opposite faces of thejoints and the'support plate again slid endwise beneath the press rollerto thereby embed the teeth of the fastener plates for completing theassembled truss.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, and including a lower pressroller mounted beneath and in parallel alignment with the firstmentioned roller, with the uppermost edge of the lower press rollerbeing substantially in the uppermost plane defining the surface of thetable, whereby the plate, chord and Web members and fastener plates aresqueezed together as a unit between the two press rollers for embeddingthe teeth of the fastener plates into said members.

6. A method for making large wood trusses and the like devices formed ofelongated, spaced apart coplanar chords interconnected by web memberswhose ends are abutted against and joined to the respective chords bytoothed metal fastener plates positioned over the opposite faces of eachof the joints with their teeth embedded in the adjacent chord and webmember portions, comprising:

positioning pre-cut chord and web members in assembled relationship uponone portion of a large, flat, elongated support plate having twoadjacent portions, with each portion being of a size to completelysupport an assembled truss in face to face relationship with the supportplate;

loosely positioning a metal fastener plate, teeth down, over each jointformed where the web members abut the chords; sliding the entire platehorizontally and endwise through a roller press arranged transversely ofthe support plate to press said fastener plates against and to embed theteeth thereof into the chord and web members;

next, lifting said truss off said one plate portion and turning itupside down to rest in face to face relationship upon the other plateportion;

then positioning additional pre-cut chord and web members upon said oneplate portion to assemble a second truss thereon and loosely positioningmetal fastener plates, teeth down, over each joint thereof, whilesimultaneously loosely positioning similar fastener plates, teeth down,over the joints of the first mentioned truss;

then sliding the plate endwise through the roller press to return to itsoriginal location, to simultaneously embed the teeth of the fastenerplates of both trusses;

thereafter removing the now completed truss now having embedded fastenerplates on both faces of each of its joints from said other plate portionand then lifting and turning upside down the second truss andpositioning it upon said other plate portion, and thereafter, repeatingthe cycle of assembling, positioning connector plates and passingthrough the roller press and so forth;

whereby pre-cut wood chord and web members for assembly into trusses arelocated adjacent one long edge of said one plate portion and on oppositesides of the roller press and the finished trusses are removed from saidother plate portion at opposite sides of said roller plates.

7. A method as defined in claim 6 and wherein said plate is arrangedupon an elongated table whose top is formed of numerous rollers arrangedfor supporting the plate for endwise sliding movement, with the tabletop transversely extending beyond both. sides of the axis of the rollerpress and including the step of sliding the plate endwise upon saidtable top rollers through the roller press.

1. An apparatus for making large wood trusses and the like devicesformed of elongated spaced apart coplanar chords interconnected by webmembers whose ends are abutted against and joined to the respectivechord members by metal fastener plates positioned over the joints andhaving struck-out teeth embedded into the portions of the chord and webmembers at said joints comprising: an elongated, relatively narrow,horizontal table divided in half transversely and longitudinally to formfour roughly equal table quarter portions, with each of said portionsbeing longer and wider than the trusses to be made on said apparatus; apress roller mounted transversely of the table at approximately themiddle thereof, the roller extending substantially the full width of andspaced a short distance above the table; a large, flat support platedivided into two plate portions, loosely supported upon andsubstantially covering the adjacent table quarter portions on one sideof the press roller, with said plate being endwise slidable upon thetable beneath the press roller from one end half of the table to theother; locator means formed on the plate for locating pre-cut chord andweb members in assembled relationship upon each of the two plateportions; and the space between the roller and the table beingapproximately equal to the thickness of the support plate and memberslocated upon the support plate; whereby chord and web members may bemanually assembled in abutting relationship upon one plate portion andfastener plates may be loosely positioned over each of the joints, withtheir teeth down and rested upon the members, and thereafter, the entiresupport plate may be slid endwise beneath the press roller to theopposite end of the table so that the fastener plates are presseddownwardly and their teeth are embedded into the respective members bythe pressure of the roller, and the truss may then be turned upside downand positioned upon the opposite support plate portion, and fastenerplates arranged teeth down upon the joints and the support plate slidback under the roller to its original position for embedding fastenerplates into the members at the opposite faces of said joints, andthereafter, the completed truss may be removed from said other plateportion.
 2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, and said table beingformed of numerous closely spaced rollers extending transversely of thetable for roller supporting the plate for endwise sliding from one endof the table to the other.
 3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, andincluding a lower press roller mounted beneath and in parallel alignmentwith the first mentioned press roller, with the uppermost edge of thelower press roller being substantially in the uppermost plane definingthe top surface of the table, whereby the plate, chord and web membersand fastener plates are squeezed together as a unit between the twopress rollers for embedding the teeth of the fastener plate into saidmembers.
 4. An apparatus for making large wood truss-like devices Formedof elongated spaced apart, coplanar wood chord members interconnected byweb members, with the adjacent ends of said members being abutted andfastened together by metal fastener plates laid over the abutted jointsin face to face relationship therewith and secured to the members byfastener plate struck-out teeth which are embedded into the adjacentmember portions, comprising: an elongated, relatively narrow table whosehorizontal top surface is provided with transversely axised rollers; apress roller extending transversely of the table between the endsthereof, the press roller being mounted above and with its lowermostedge spaced a short distance above the plane of the table top; anelongated, flat, horizontally arranged, metal support plate looselysupported upon the table rollers for endwise sliding movement along thelength of the table and between the table and the press roller, and saidsupport plate being at least as long as a truss device to be made on theapparatus; locator means formed on the upper surface of the supportplate for locating pre-cut chord and web members in acuttingtruss-forming assembled relationship upon said upper surface; wherein afastener plate may be laid over each joint, teeth down, and the metalsupport plate with the members and fastener plates may be thereaftermoved endwise beneath the roller press to the opposite ends of the tableso that the roller press squeezes the fastener plates down against themembers, in turn supported by the support plate, for embedding thefastener plates teeth into their adjacent member portions and the trussmay then be turned upside down upon the metal support plate and fastenerplates positioned over the opposite faces of the joints and the supportplate again slid endwise beneath the press roller to thereby embed theteeth of the fastener plates for completing the assembled truss.
 5. Anapparatus as defined in claim 4, and including a lower press rollermounted beneath and in parallel alignment with the first mentionedroller, with the uppermost edge of the lower press roller beingsubstantially in the uppermost plane defining the surface of the table,whereby the plate, chord and web members and fastener plates aresqueezed together as a unit between the two press rollers for embeddingthe teeth of the fastener plates into said members.
 6. A method formaking large wood trusses and the like devices formed of elongated,spaced apart coplanar chords interconnected by web members whose endsare abutted against and joined to the respective chords by toothed metalfastener plates positioned over the opposite faces of each of the jointswith their teeth embedded in the adjacent chord and web member portions,comprising: positioning pre-cut chord and web members in assembledrelationship upon one portion of a large, flat, elongated support platehaving two adjacent portions, with each portion being of a size tocompletely support an assembled truss in face to face relationship withthe support plate; loosely positioning a metal fastener plate, teethdown, over each joint formed where the web members abut the chords;sliding the entire plate horizontally and endwise through a roller pressarranged transversely of the support plate to press said fastener platesagainst and to embed the teeth thereof into the chord and web members;next, lifting said truss off said one plate portion and turning itupside down to rest in face to face relationship upon the other plateportion; then positioning additional pre-cut chord and web members uponsaid one plate portion to assemble a second truss thereon and looselypositioning metal fastener plates, teeth down, over each joint thereof,while simultaneously loosely positioning similar fastener plates, teethdown, over the joints of the first mentioned truss; then sliding theplate endwise through the roller press to return to its originallocation, to simultaneously embed the teeth of the fastener plateS ofboth trusses; thereafter removing the now completed truss now havingembedded fastener plates on both faces of each of its joints from saidother plate portion and then lifting and turning upside down the secondtruss and positioning it upon said other plate portion, and thereafter,repeating the cycle of assembling, positioning connector plates andpassing through the roller press and so forth; whereby pre-cut woodchord and web members for assembly into trusses are located adjacent onelong edge of said one plate portion and on opposite sides of the rollerpress and the finished trusses are removed from said other plate portionat opposite sides of said roller plates.
 7. A method as defined in claim6 and wherein said plate is arranged upon an elonated table whose top isformed of numerous rollers arranged for supporting the plate for endwisesliding movement, with the table top transversely extending beyond bothsides of the axis of the roller press and including the step of slidingthe plate endwise upon said table top rollers through the roller press.